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The Secret of Keyword Research

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Internet Business - Marketing

Written by Ashley Lichty

Monday, 17 March 2008

Keyword research is one of the most important stages of developing a website - especially if the purpose of the site is to generate money and business. Your first step is deciding exactly what you will be selling on your site - is it a product, service or information? Next is taking the steps to find out the type of things people type into the search engines when looking for your particular product or service.

by AshleyLichty

The more terms people use to search, the better you can target your Internet marketing straight to them. It will also help you to better target your search engine optimization techniques. The more general your topic, the longer your keyword research will be. For instance, if you're only selling fishing rods, your keyword list will be shorter than if you sell the whole shebang: rods, tackle, bait, etc.

To start your keyword research, just brainstorm a bit and get into your target audience's head. What might they search for in the search engines to find your service? From there you can generate short list of broad terms. From there you can take your research in one of two directions.

The more traditional school uses online tools and programs. Google's Keyword Tool will generate a list of related terms and suggested terms as well as show how often people search for them. There is also software available that utilizes several online tools in one. Whichever you choose, do a bit of research to find how to best utilize it.

Of course, if the purpose of your keyword research is to build search marketing campaigns through Yahoo and Google, you can save yourself time, energy and the game of trying to figure out which keywords are the best to use and which will waste money. How you ask? Simply by doing a bit of experiment with whichever search marketing program you use.

If you have a bit of extra cash to spend, you can do your keyword research in a whole different way. Take your original list of several terms and begin building a campaign around them (this works for both Google, Yahoo and other search marketing affiliates). Most search marketing programs have the option of using a "broad" keyword match - meaning whatever combination of search terms somebody types in, as long as it contains your keyword, your ad will pop up for them.

By running a test campaign for a week or two and spending a little bit of cash, you can cut your keyword research time in half and actually raise your marketing results as well. As people search and click your ads, you can tell exactly what SPECIFIC keyword terms (long-tail or short) will attract you the most business for the least amount of money. Once you let the campaign run a while, you can start building a more detailed campaign, and eventually get rid of the "broad" match option and instead spend your ad money on a long list of exact keywords.

Keyword research can sound daunting, especially for newcomers, but practice makes perfect, and this tip can wind up saving you a lot of trouble and time. In the long run, it should also help you target your keywords to your audience better, get you higher conversion rates and hopefully save some money. It's always important to try something for yourself before you rule it out entirely!

About the Author:

The author, Ashley Lichty, along with her colleagues, do keyword research, copywriting and other search engine optimization techniques for ProspectMX.com. You can learn more about her and her team by checking out ProspectMX.